Nowadays, especially in China, everything seems to favor social intercourse, such as gatherings of friends, KTV, group travel, dining togethter, playing cards and Mahjong, plus the Chinese-style “street-crossing group.” Back home, discussions can still be boisterously carried on within the “circle of friends” of WeChat.

      However, these scenes cannot always ease a sense of loneliness. Zhu Ziqing, a well-known professor of Tsinghua University, signed with emotion: “My loneliness increases as scene becomes much busier.” One popular song today is also called “A lonely man in crowds.” Actually, engaging in social intercourse requires ability, while being alone involves the whole character.

    These days, it is not easy to calm down totally and return to one's true self. Willpower, intellect and discipline are required. Einstein said: “It is not your working time but your spare time that determines the possibility of whether you will be successful or not.” The “spare time” he referred to could be taken as “spending time by yourself.”

    Lonely life could be either dull, boring and tasteless or abundant, interesting and colorful, depending on one's quality, ambition and inspiration.

    Just as the body constantly requires energy, the mind and soul also demand unceasing inputs. However, information, to processed and integrated(融入)into knowledge, thoughts and feelings, instead of bustle(忙碌)seems to be the right condition. Successful careers in all walks of life worldwide have proved that “the soul grows in peace and talent is nurtured in loneliness”. In a sense, it may be reasonable to say that “Happiness tends to be shallow while loneliness involves profundity”.

    Man, in fact, needs loneliness more than happy time, and only abundant loneliness can produce quality happiness.

    The Internet has opened up a whole new on-line world for us to meet, chat and go where we've never been before.

    But just as in face-to-face communication, there are some basic rules of behavior that should be followed when online. The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way you would want to be treated. Imagine how you'd feel if you were in the other person's shoes.

    For anything you're about to send: ask yourself, "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you'd feel comfortable saying the words to the person's face.

    If someone in the chat room is rude to you, your instinct is to fire back in the same manner. But try not to do so. You should either ignore the person, or use your chat software to block their messages. If it was caused by a disagreement with another member, try to fix the situation by politely discussing it. Remember to respect the beliefs and opinions of others in the chat room.

    Everyone was new to the network once. Offer advice when asked by newcomers, as they may not be sure what to do or how to communicate．When someone makes a mistake whether it's a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer, be kind about it. If it's a small mistake, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before saying anything. Having good manners yourself doesn't give you license to correct everyone else.

    If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely. At the same time, if you find you are wrong, be sure to correct yourself and apologize to those that you have offended.

    It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex, and marital status. Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don't ask such questions.

    Winter solstice(冬至), an important solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar, as the name implies, means the coming of winter. It generally occurs between December 21st and 23rd. According to the traditional Chinese calendar, one year is divided into twenty-four solar terms. On this day, in the Northern Hemisphere the period of daytime is the shortest of the year and the period of night is the longest.

    In Northern China there is a custom of eating dumplings during winter solstice. The tradition of eating dumplings during winter solstice has its origin in early times. It is said that dumplings were invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a well-known doctor from the Eastern-Han Dynasty.

    One winter, he noticed that many people's ears were frozen, which made him sad. In order to prevent and cure the freezing injury caused by the cold, he asked his followers to boil mutton, chilies and other ingredients with medicinal properties in a pot for fending off cold. After these were boiled, they ladled(舀取) the mutton and other ingredients out of the pot, cut them into pieces, and then wrapped them with dough skins in the shape of ears. Afterward, they put these into pots to boil again.

    On the day of the winter solstice, the people whose ears were frozen were sent to eat the dumplings. People who ate it felt warm from head to toe and had their cold injury healed. Thereafter, every winter solstice people ate dumplings. Then there became a saying that if you eat dumplings during the winter solstice, then you won't freeze your ears off.

    Afterwards, Zhang Zhongjing died on the day of winter solstice. In order to honor him, every year on the day of the winter solstice every household makes dumplings.

    Psychology has a new application in the field of medicine. Many doctors, together with their patients, are looking for alternative methods of treatment of physical problems. In large hospitals, modern therapy(疗法)seems to focus on the physical disease. Patients may feel they are treated like broken machines. Some doctors have recognized this as a problem. They are now using psychological therapy, in which the patient is working with the doctors against the disease with the help of medicine. The patient does not wait for the medicine and treatment to cure him or her, but instead the patient joins in the fight.

    The doctor knows that a disease affects a patient's body physically. The body of the patient changes because of the disease. He is not only physically affected, but also has an emotional response to the disease. Because his mind is affected, and his attitude and behavior change. The medical treatment might cure the patient's physical problems, but the patient's mind must fight the emotional ones. For example, the studies of one doctor, Carl Simonton, M.D., have shown that a typical cancer patient has predictable attitudes. She typically feels depressed, upset, and angry. Her constant depression makes her acts unfriendly toward her family, friends, doctors, and nurses. Such attitudes and behaviors prevent recovery. Therefore, a doctor's treatment must help the patient change that. Simonton's method emphasizes treatment of the "whole" patient.

    The attitude of a cancer patient receiving radiation therapy, an X-ray treatment, can become more positive. The physician who is following Simonton's psychological treatment plan suggests that the patient imagine that he or she can see the tumor(肿瘤)in the body. In the mental picture, the patient "sees" a powerful beam of radiation like a million bullets of energy. The patient imagines the beam hitting the tumor cells and causing them to shrink. For another cancer patient, Dr. Simonton asks him to imagine the medicine going from the stomach into the bloodstream and to the cancer cells. The patient imagines that the medicine is like an army fighting the diseased cells and sees the cancer cells gradually dying and his blood carrying away the dead cells. Both the medical therapy and the patient's positive attitude fight the disease.

    Doctors are not certain why this mental therapy works. However, this use of psychology does help some patients because their attitudes about themselves change. They become more confident because they use the power within their own minds to help stop the disease.

    Another application of using the mind to help cure disease is the use of suggestion therapy. At first, the doctor helps the patient to concentrate deeply. The patient thinks only about one thing. He becomes so unaware of other things around him that he is asleep, or rather in a trance(催眠状态). Then the physician makes "a suggestion" to the patient about the medical problem. The patient's mind responds to the suggestion even after the patient is no longer in the trance. In this way, the patient uses his mind to help his body respond to treatment.

    Doctors have learned that this use of psychology is helpful for both adults and children. For example, physicians have used suggestion to help adults deal with the strong pain of some disease. Furthermore, such treatment may help the patient with a chronic diseases. Suggestion has been used to change children's habits like nail­biting, thumb­sucking, and sleep­related problems.

    Many professional medical groups have accepted the medical use of psychology and that psychology has important applications in medicine.

    A DREAM, for me, is like a torch to light up my insipid (平淡的)life and a pair of wings to fly me into the sky. The uncertainty of my future and the heavy burden of schoolwork had driven me into a negative situation and not until I had a dream did I get out there. I decided to become a hostess.

    It was last summer. I went to Jinan, which is famous for its natural springs, and started to learn broadcast hosting. However, I found that it was not easy.

    The weather was bad. It was too hot to stay calm, which made me homesick. I called-my parents at least five times a day. But as I tried my best to adapt to the weather and living conditions there, I became more independent.

    Another thing bothered me, too. My teacher criticized all my mistakes. Grievance (委屈)and exhaustion often reduced me to tears and sweat flowed down my checks. To get her recognition, I practiced my voice skills in a park every day, even on rainy days. You can't imagine how happy I was when she praised me for the first time.

    My dream enabled me to change a lot. Without my dream, I wouldn't have had the courage and the confidence to host the New Year party at our school. On stage, I knew that it was a good beginning to my hosting dream.

    I took the arts examination in the winter. To my delight, I did well. And I was more than excited when I received the offers from Shandong Normal University, Yunnan Normal University and Yunnan Art Institute.

    My dream has powered so much energy in me that my life has become colorful every day. So, however hard it will be to stick to my dream, no way will I give it up!

Thanks to the evolution of technology, the learning-centred mobile apps can help maintain learning even outside the classrooms and make the learning activities more efficient.

Study Blue

With Study Blue, teachers can create flashcards and interactive sessions. Meanwhile, you can view the study materials anywhere anytime and share flashcards with your teacher & classmates in real time.

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TED

TED helps educators to bring out a colorful classroom and prepare unique lecture presentations. Thousands of sessions by experts can help you to get knowledge & topics to discuss in classrooms.

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Quizzes

Quizzes make your study more interesting. There are millions of teacher-created quizzes on Quizizz and you can compete with friends online. Teachers can make the whole class play together and assign individual homework.

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Pocket

Pocket is a solution to learning lectures on the go. You can instantly save articles or video content for improving your classroom studies. Teachers can communicate with students and parents virtually.

App Features

• Dark-colored themes for night use.

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Ratings: 4.6/5 Users: 10,000,000+ Download: Android, iOS